62
‘Then, what’s the reason?’
Why had someone who used to be like that suddenly become so insensitive to death? Casia’s gaze, which had been wandering in the air for a moment, turned to the pitch-black demon sword still in Rohan’s hand. It looked exactly the same as before, without a single drop of blood on it.
Soon, Casia realized why Rohan had acted that way. It was because she found a commonality between the two situations.
Those who met cruel deaths were all affiliated with the Salvation Church, the organization that had experimented on Arpel. Rohan, who had been anxious about being left alone all along, had just now charged inside, half-turned, solely because ‘Arpel wasn’t by his side.’
He feels no hesitation in killing people. No uneasiness, no guilt either. He might have been angry while killing, but once the situation was over, even that emotion evaporated cleanly.
All those things were pushed back due to the existence of ‘Arpel’. When it came to matters related to Arpel, Rohan was like that.
‘…Oh, Celestial God.’
For the first time in a long while, she felt the urge to clasp her hands and pray.
Leriana came back inside with a pale face. Only after repeating deep breaths several times, as if trying to calm herself, could she move properly. Even that wasn’t easy due to the thick smell of blood in the air, but her desire to leave this place as soon as possible forced her body to move.
After returning to human form, Arpel had been sticking close to Rohan’s side the entire time. It was partly because Rohan kept checking if Arpel was still beside him every time he opened a document, but Arpel also didn’t want to be separated.
He deliberately tried not to care about the fact that Rohan had brutally slaughtered numerous people. He consciously tried to turn off his thoughts about it. It was clear that if he slipped even a little, he would be swept away by waves of thoughts.
‘Maybe…’
Because I’m not human. Is it because he resembles me?
Whenever Arpel’s eyes grew cold, Rohan would always hold him close. His face, softly smiling, gazed at Arpel with all sorts of affection. It was a face that didn’t fit at all with the place strewn with corpses and bloodstains.
“What are you thinking about?”
His thumb gently caressed Arpel’s cheek. Ridiculously, Arpel felt all his chaotic thoughts settling down just from that single gesture.
Looking at him like this, such thoughts naturally came to mind.
‘…Maybe it doesn’t matter?’
What difference does it make if his methods are cruel? It’s not like Rohan was killing innocent people, and his beautiful smile remained unchanged. He was still the same as before.
“It’s nothing. I’m… okay now.”
As long as their relationship hadn’t changed, that was enough. If Rohan was happy, if he was satisfied, nothing else mattered. The rampant thoughts quickly disappeared.
They repeatedly skimmed through the research materials, putting them into the shadow if they seemed useful. Leriana’s expression had relaxed somewhat, as if she found it quite amusing to drop documents on the floor and watch the shadow quickly swallow them. Of course, she couldn’t help but occasionally pat her solar plexus, seemingly unable to completely suppress the urge to vomit.
“…It seems there’s been some progress.”
Arpel had obtained research materials when raiding one of the Salvation Church’s branches long ago. From what was written at that time, it seemed they had conducted various studies to understand ‘the pattern in which holy power and magic power are stored in objects.’
“Do you know anything about this ‘aspiration’?”
Casia, who had been silently flipping through documents, asked with furrowed brows. She seemed unable to understand the word that kept appearing.
Arpel, who had glanced down at the same word, nodded.
“It’s probably a device the Salvation Church is researching to store the power of spirits. It seems they’ve made some progress.”
Although there wasn’t any notable development, the research seemed to be progressing smoothly. In the past, they had only referred to it as a ‘device,’ but now it had been given the grand name of ‘aspiration.’
“We should pass this on to that person.”
Rohan pulled out the research journal that Casia and Arpel had been looking at and threw it on the floor. The fluttering paper was swallowed by the shadow’s mouth before it could fully touch the ground.
“This should be enough information about the research. Now let’s look for other things. Like clues about underground locations…”
“Oh! Isn’t this it?”
Leriana, who had been rummaging through the inside of a messy desk drawer, pulled out a piece of paper. Although the edges were crumpled and discolored from human handling, what was drawn on it resembled a map.
“…They really can’t draw.”
Leriana quietly lamented while looking at the map she had found. Anyone could tell it was supposed to be a map, but the lines were crooked and strange as if drawn by a child. It was questionable whether they had properly considered the size of buildings or distances.
***
After leaving the research facility, the group headed to an inn. Since they had left the inn in the early hours of the morning, naturally, it was still before sunrise outside.
Leriana, who had quickly shut herself in her room saying she could sleep like the dead, appeared the next day with exhausted eyes.
“Ugh… I had a nightmare…”
As a bonus, she glared at Rohan, whose face was glowing as if he had slept well. He just shrugged his shoulders. It was quite an annoying attitude.
Although a massacre had occurred on the outskirts of the village the night before, the atmosphere in the village hadn’t changed much. There were occasionally people who said they had heard some noise, but even that was rarely considered strange.
“Let’s split into two groups.”
Rohan, who had been keenly observing the village atmosphere, pulled out two pieces of paper. One was the map Leriana had found in the research facility yesterday, and the other was the paper with the cipher found in the suspicious man’s house.
Naturally, Arpel moved together with Rohan. The paper with the cipher they had seen the night before fluttered in Arpel’s hand.
“Shall we go to the bookstore together first?”
“Sure.”
Unlike yesterday when they had to turn back because it was too late, the bookstore’s door was wide open today. It showed quite a bit of aging, suggesting it had been in the same place for a long time.
As they pushed open the door, a bell chimed. The welcoming voice of a woman that followed was younger than expected. Rohan briefly glanced at Arpel before asking her,
“Do you know anything about Mr. Bint?”
“Bint…? No, I’ve never heard of him…”
The woman shook her head with bewildered eyes. They weren’t the eyes of someone lying. Rohan absently fiddled with the paper in his hand.
If the bookstore owner didn’t know anything about the man named ‘Bint,’ then the method to solve the cipher would be lost. The cipher, which suddenly mentioned a baby bear story, was impossible to solve without any clues.
It was then that an elderly man, who seemed to have been organizing books in the back, walked out looking quite disheveled.
“I know about Bint, if you’re asking.”
“Grandfather!”
The woman, who had abruptly stood up, was shocked to see several books in the old man’s hands.
“Your back is bad, why are you organizing books? I said I’d do it!”
“Ah, if only I could trust you. Always being so clumsy…”
“Th-there are customers here, how can you say such things!”
With a reddened face, she eventually fled, saying she would go put away the books instead. The old man, who sat down in the chair that was still warm, nodded.
“Why are you asking about Bint?”
“I had some business with your son.”
“Tsk, he must still be holding onto his obsession.”
The old man nodded as if he understood. It was worth giving an intentionally vague answer. Arpel firmly grasped Rohan’s hand, which had snuck into his robe, as if to praise him for his skillful response.
“I’ve already told that fellow what I know… but as you probably already know, I owe Bint a debt. Because of that, I’ve been fulfilling his last request even after more than 10 years have passed.”
“By last request, you mean…”
“Before Bint went missing, he handed me a book. And then he asked me never to change the position where the book was shelved. It’s an incomprehensible request, but thinking of it as repaying my debt, I’ve kept it in that place until now.”
The old man laughed heartily, saying that after so much time had passed and the person who made the request had gone missing, there wasn’t really anything secret about it anymore.
After listening to the old man’s story for a few more minutes, they were finally able to learn the location. They walked quickly towards the bookshelf location he had indicated. Although it wasn’t a large bookstore, the interior was like a maze, so there was no need to worry about being seen.
“The Cozy Meal of Baby Bear…”
Long fingers traced the spine of the book, reciting the title. Soon, a cover that looked unmistakably like a children’s book came into view.
After carefully noting the position, the hand that flipped open the cover was unhesitating. The gaze that carelessly passed over the large text soon fell upon an illustration that took up an entire page.
It was a picture of a baby bear having a meal.
‘The Cozy Meal Story of Baby Bear’. This book, which anyone would recognize as a children’s book, had been mentioned several times in Bint’s diary. The son described in the diary particularly loved this book.
Out of all the many books, he chose this one and even asked the bookstore owner never to change its position. It was clearly no ordinary matter. Whatever the exact history, it was correct that this book was closely related to the ‘research’.
“The part about ‘only with one hand’ is bothering me.”
Rohan, who had received a torn page from the diary in place of Arpel who was opening the book, furrowed his brow. In the picture, the baby bear was eating with its left hand.
Rohan’s finger methodically pointed out ‘one hand’, ‘8 hours’, ‘leftover beans’, ‘piling up’, ‘the sun is setting’.
“Doesn’t it seem like directions and numbers are being repeated?”
“Ah.”
Hearing those words, Arpel let out a small exclamation. He turned to look at Rohan with fresh eyes. He couldn’t help but reach out and pat Rohan’s head, who was looking at him with round eyes.
Rohan seemed too smart.
